Dear Prime Minister Cameron, You recently proposed that all internet apps – and their users' communications – be compelled to make themselves accessible to state authorities. I want to explain why this…

A wave of small-scale assaults has shaken public confidence in governments’ capacity to protect citizens from terrorism.
AAP/Yann KorbiJanuary 12, 2015

The Charlie Hebdo massacre and the subsequent attack on the Hyper Cache kosher market in France are merely the latest and most bloody jihadist atrocities to have traumatised the West. From Ottawa to Sydney…

International airports are a busy place to be. Nearly 200,000 passengers pass through London Heathrow Airport every day. The internal security of the country depends on effective airport checks. All departing…

The Toronto G20 summit showed what starts out as a peaceful protest can turn into a violent clash.
EPA/Sergei IlinitskyNovember 11, 2014

The Brisbane G20 summit is shaping up to to be Australia’s largest security operation. In recent decades, most large-scale protests in Australia have been relatively peaceful events, but the policing of…

When a mosque is spray-painted with the word ‘Evil’ following last week’s raids, it’s a sign the community is getting the wrong message from the anti-terrorism campaign.
AAP/Matt JacobSeptember 25, 2014

While Australia has rightly joined the international fight to bring down Islamic State (IS) terrorists, at home its anti-terror campaign is fuelling more problems. For example, following high-profile anti-terror…

Citing ‘the national interest’ enables Julie Bishop and her government colleagues simply to assert the need for everything from tougher security laws to supplying arms to Iraqi rebels.
AAP/Lukas CochSeptember 21, 2014

“There is no such thing as the national interest,” I tell my first-year Australian foreign policy students. This tends to stop them in their tracks. After all, if there is no such thing as the national…

Australian Federal Police officers outside Parliament House in Canberra today. The AFP is set to take over Parliament House security after ‘chatter’ about a possible terrorist attack.
AAP Image/Lukas CochSeptember 19, 2014

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has had the last laugh on the serious question of security at Australia’s Parliament. Earlier this year, security was slackened in a bid to save A$400,000. MPs' staff and…

Australian women of different faiths gathered at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque last month in a show of community solidarity.
AAP Image/Tracey NearmySeptember 19, 2014

From anarchists in the 1920s and radical leftists in the 1960s, to fringe, extreme-right Christian bombers or gunmen in the United States in recent decades, or radical Islamists such as Islamic State today…

There are now around half a million Muslim Australians, who are sometimes blamed for the actions of a tiny minority.
AAP Image/Tracey NearmySeptember 18, 2014

Since Australians woke to the news of yesterday morning’s counter-terrorism raids in Sydney, Brisbane and Logan, talkback radio and the TV news have filled with talk of “home-grown terrorism” and “enemies…

Tony Abbott has deployed his senior ministers, including Julie Bishop and George Brandis, to get out the government’s anti-terrorism message.
AAP/Lukas CochSeptember 11, 2014

It appears that Australia might be put on a higher threat alert level. ASIO director-general David Irvine’s comments on a possible increase in the terrorism threat level (which came into force in 2003…

A hoax bomb threat aboard Qatar Airways flight QR23 saw an RAF jet called into action to escort the plane to Manchester Airport. This is not a cause for concern. You can be assured that the cabin crew…

Put the pen away when you next take out your credit card as from tomorrow (Friday August 1) Australians will no longer be able to use their signature when completing a transaction in a store. It’s PINs…

The political crisis in Ukraine clearly illustrates the formidable challenges faced by the country’s law enforcement institutions. The Berkut, or Golden Eagle, riot police have been disbanded after accusations…

The devastating Taliban attack at Karachi’s Jinnah airport this week was shocking not just for the loss of life, but for the sheer brazenness of the assault. Pakistan is no stranger to terrorist attacks…

The most recent IPCC report included a chapter on security – the first time this has happened. The report pointed to a range of security threats associated with climate change, including ill-health, food…

Can the US National Security Agency really record all phone calls in a single country?
Flickr/Marc WathieuMarch 21, 2014

It was bad enough when it was revealed the US National Security Agency (NSA) wanted to hack information on smartphones but now reports this week it wants to record the phone calls of an entire country…